German European Commission Vice President Guenter Verheugen told the Bild am Sonntag weekly that people should "open their eyes" when buying toys, and beware particularly of "tacky unbranded products."

"Cheap does not necessarily mean good quality," he warned.

He said that from the beginning of January new regulations would "adapt safety standards to the developments of the last 20 years and make them stronger."

According to Bild am Sonntag, substances would be banned from toys that cause cancer or genetic damage, reduce fertility or trigger allergies, and EU member states would be obliged to step up controls.

Verheugen said he was opposed to a ban on imports of toys from China, which had been threatened earlier this year after mass recalls of Chinese-made goods.

"The Chinese have acknowledged the serious nature of the situation," he said.

The European Commission, the European Union's executive arm, said in November that China had made "considerable progress" in cracking down on exports of dangerous toys.

Tens of millions of Chinese-made toys were recalled amid concerns that they could be dangerous, in what became a new flash point in trade relations between the Asian economic giant and Europe and the United States.

China is the world's top toy exporter, selling 22 billion toys overseas last year, or 60 percent of the world's total.

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